Gearing mechanism for washing machines



Feb. 7, 1928. 1,658,274

0. 8. WOODROW GEARING MECHANISM FOR WASHING MACHINES Original FiledApril 13. 1 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I g fafw Feb. 7, 1928. 1,658,274

0. B. WOODROW GEARING MECHANISM FOR WASHING MACHINES Original FiledApril 13, 1925 -2 Sheets-Sheet 2 30 illustrated in the Patented Feb. 7,1928.

OLIVER 1B. WOOD'ROW, or NEWTON, IOWA, ASSIGNOZR. rofwoonnow wnsniNG MA-I I "1, 58,274! UNITED s -AT Es-PATENTqQ F CEa] CHINE COMPANY, OF DELLA,Iowan CORPORATION OF IOWA.

Guanine MECHANISM FOR, WASHING m nus;

I Original application filed April 13, 1925, Serial 7 November 2, 1925.

This invention relates to improvements in washing machines, andparticularly to'that type which is driven through a power device such asan electric motor, having a wringer driving shaft and an oscillatingagitator mechanism, and is a divisional application of my copendingapplication for" Letters Pat-- ent on a driving mechanism for washingmachines, filed April13,1925, Serial Number The object of my inventionis to provide ah improved gearing mechanism for throwing either theagitator mechanism or the wri nger driving shaft into and out of operliation with the washing machine driving power. 1 I

More specifically it is my object to pro vide a mechanism ofithis'classin which the parts most subject to wear are grouped and so assembled ina small space and all contained within a gear case which may be filledwith oil so that said working parts run continuously in oil withobviously advantageous results. I I

85 My invention consists in the construction, arrangement andcombination of the various partsof the device, whereby the objectscontemplated'are attained, as hereinafter more I fully set forth,pointed out in my claim, and accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a top or plan view of a stationary base member for awashing machine or the like, and a movable frame mem- 5 her mountedthereon designed to receive a tubto be moved in a vertical oscillatingman ner. Said view also shows the electric motor and the ear caseenclosing the drive mechanism, the'top of the gear case being re- 40moved. I

Figure 2 shows an enlarged, detail, vertical, sectional'view taken on aline centered at the vertical driveshaft for the washer and the verticaldrive shaft for the wringer.

45 Referring to the accompanying drawings,

I have used the reference numeral 10 to indicate a stationary supportingframe preferably of the kind having three legs extended outwardly fromthe central body portion,

50 and supported at the central portion of this stationary frame'is anupright shaft 11. R0- tatively mounted upon the upper portion of theshaft 11 is a hollow frame member 12. This rotatable framemember 12 isdesigned No, Ilivlded and Serial. No. 66,348.. I

to receive a smallamountof grease and to carry'a washing machine tub orother ar-, ticle to be horizontally oscillated. Carried by the frame 12are radially extending arms 12, each of'said arms being provided with aspring 13. The lower gear case member is indicated generally by thereference numeral 15fand is stationarily' supported at its lower end bymeans of the frame member 16which is part 1 of the frame 10. Thetop ofthelgear case member, indicated generally by the numeral 17 is securedto the circular angle bar member'14,thus rigidly securing together thevarious parts of the stationary frame mem ber andthe gear case,and'forming 311121.8

together; I

Mounted upon a part of the stationary frame member is an electric motorfor other prime movermdicate'd by the numeral 18 and connected by a belt19 with a pulley 20 on the shaft 21 which enters the gear case, and hasa beveled driving pinion 22 shaft 23 near its lower end is a combinedclutch member and bevel gear device which comprlsesia hub portion 25rigidly connected by a pin 26 to theshaft23. At the top' of the hubortion is an outwardly extended part 27 ormed with a series of oil pasasageways 28. At the outer end of the part 27 is'a downwardly projectingconicalclutch flange member 29, and atthe'lowerend of the member 29-is aflange extended outwardly and then upwardly at 30, thus forming asubstantially V shaped groove, both adjacent faces of which provideclutching surfaces for the'mating clutch member This flange is formed atits bottom with oil passageways31 and at the outer upper portion of theflange there is formed a bevel gear 32, the latter being arranged inmesh with the bevel pinion 22. 1 I

The coacting clutch membercomprises a body portion '33 'looselymountedupon the shaft 23abovethe clutch member 29. This body portion 33 isformed at its upper end with a gear wheel 34 and atitslower end it isformed with an outwardly extended flange 35 above the oil passageways28, and

this applicationfileda i i a '70 sembly that maybe readily and easilyput" conical clutch member 29 and also to enterclutch member is anannular groove 39 into which is projected an arm 40 fixed to a shaft d1which is slidingly mounted in the gear case cover 17, and it serves thepur-' pose of elevating the upper clutch member to position out ofclutching engagement with the lower clutch member.

The means for raising and lowering the shaft 4E1 preferably comprisesastationary bracket 42 mounted on the tubular housing 43 for the shaft23, This bracket l2 is preferably provided with a stationary cam shapedlug 4A at its upper end, and. also is provided with a coil spring 45 atits lower end engaging the bracket 42 at it's top, and also engaging awasher i6 at its bottom, which washer is secured by a pin a? to theshaft 41, thus tending to yieldingly hold the shaft 41 at its-downwardlimit of move ment.

Rotatively mounted upon the shaft 41 is a lever a8 having a circularhead 49 surrounding the upper end of the shaft 41 and also having a camshaped flange 50 extending downwardly and designed to engage and coactwith the cam shaped lug 44. When the lever 4-8 is in the position shownin Figure 2, then the shaft 41 is in position heldby the spring 45 atits downward limit of movement, but when this lever 48 is movedlaterally in either direction, the cam- 50, traveling upon the cam 44,elevates the shaft l1 against pressure of. the spring 45 and holds it insuch elevated position.

Rotatively mounted within the gear case I is the upright drive shaft 51for the Wash ing machine. This drive shaft is mounted with its lower endin a thrust roller bearing 52 at the lower part of the gear case, andwith its upper end in a rollerbearing 53 in the gear case cover. Fixedto its central portion within the gear case is a gear wheel 5 in meshwith the gear wheel 8%, and these gear wheels are of such relative sizethat they ,will always remain in mesh when the gear wheel 3a is eitherin its elevated or its lowered position. The gear wheel 5st ispreferably firmly fixed to the-shaft 51 by pins Fixed to the upper endof the shaft 51 above the gear case is a short crank 57 connected by apitman 58 to the rotatable frame member 12 on the shaft 11.

In practical use attention is called to the fact that with my improvedconstruction and arrangement of parts, all of the gear devices, and theclutch for transmitting power from the drive shaft 21 to either thewringer' drive shaft 23 or the washing machine drive shaft 51, arecontained within a tightly enclosed gear case, which is filled with oilso that all of these parts are constantly lubricated and the oil isprevented from working out of the gear case in such manner as might comein contact with the garments being used in connection with the washingmachine. llurthermore, the gear case itself. forms a part of, and isfirmly connected with, the stationary frame of the machine, in that thelower end of the gear case is securely fixed to the lower stationary;frame member 10 and the upper end of the gear case is firmly fixed tothe frame member 1 Furthermore, if for any reason it should-be necessaryto provide access to any of these gear devices, this may be done bysimply removing the gear case cover.

The combination of the clutch members with the integral gears on each ofthem, to gether with the co-operating parts thereof, is highlyadvantageous in a structure of this character. With my improvedconstruction the main drive shaft 21 constantly rotates the wringershaft 23 through the gears 22 and This gear 32 is formed as an integralpart of the lower clutch member, which in turn is fixed to the shaft 23,thus making an extremely simple, durable and efficient means for drivingthe shaft 23, but in addition to its function of driving the shafL3,'the gear 32 is formed with a clutch member, which clutch member ismachined in such a manner as to be accurately centered relative to thegear 32. The upper clutch member is formed with a clutch device to coactwith the lower clutch member, and is formed with an integral gear wheel34 to drive the washing machine operating shaft 51, and by thisarrangement the driving mechanism for the washing machine is extremelysimple, durable and efficient in construction, regardless of the clutchelement. In other words, a simple, durable and ellicient clutchingmechanism is provided in the combination, without the addition of anyseparate parts that are liable to get out of alinement, or that needseparate bearings and attachments; and furthermore all of said workingparts are closely assembled and constantly run in oil in the same gearcase.

In addition to the foregoing advantages, my improved clutch element ofitself is a very efficient structure. When immersed in oil, and assumingthat the upper clutch is running and the shaft 51 is stationary, and

assuming further that it is desired to rotate the shaft 51 which isdesigned to be connected to, say for. instance, a tub full of water andclothes, and which requires a relatively great initial force in order tostart it,

then the operator moves the upper clutch member downwardly. When sodoing the oil, that is contained between the part 27 of the lowerclutch'member and theadjacent part of the upper clutch member, is slowlyforced'out through the openings 28 and in addition to this the oil, thatis contained within the cup shaped portion 34 of the lower clutchmember, will be slowly driven outthrough the openings 37 in the lowerclutch member by the clutchingflange 36 of the upper clutch member.

It is obvious that in the event that there was no oil in the gear case,and the upper clutch member was moved rapidly downwardly, it wouldquickly assume a clutched condition with relation to the lower clutchmember, and a heavy overload would instantly be thrown on the electricmotor or other prime mover with obviously disastrous results. However,by means of this retarding action of the oil it is obvious that when theupper clutch member approaches grips ping contact with the lower clutchmember, it will reach first a relatively slight driving engagement withtherlower clutch member, and this driving engagement will continue inintensity for a considerable period, de-

pending on the size of the oil discharge openings until finally acomplete clutch engagement has been attained, and during this time thathas elapsed from the time when the clutch is only slightly in engagementuntil full clutching engagement has been attained, the load of thewashing machine will have been gradually started and will slowly reachits maximum load without subjecting the electric motor. to undue strainsfor startmg purposes. 7

1 claim as my invention: In a'gearing mechanism of the class (1 scribed,the combination of a stationary frame, a body mounted thereon andcapable of rotary reciprocating motion, a gear case fixed to thestationary frame, a beveled pmion projected into the interior of thegear case and having its bearing therein, means for operating thebeveled pinion, a continuously rotating vertical shaft, a clutch memberfixed thereon and designed to be driven by said, beveled pinion, acoactin clutch member slidingly mounted on said aft and within the gearcase, a shaft geared to said sliding clutch member, a crank fixed tosaid shaft, a pitman connected to the crank and also connected tothesaid body mounted for the rotary reciprocating motion, two arms fixedcentrally to said body and below it and extended in opposite directions,and contractable coil springs fixed to said arms and extended outwardlyin opposite directions and fixed at'their outer ends to the stationaryframe, substantially as and for the purposes stated. I

DesMoines, Iowa, October 23, 1925.

OLIVER B. WOODROW.

